Spotlight Elskan no. 274 — Terrence D from Cape Town
After four years and well over four hundred Elska participants, who we affectionately call 'elskans' (the word 'elskan' means 'darling' in Icelandic), we're launching a new recurring feature for our online channels. "Spotlight Elskan" aims to bring back into focus one man from a past issue, sharing a couple images not published in the mag plus a bit of blurb about our time together.
I was to meet Terrence at the V&A Waterfront, a big shopping, dining, and entertainment complex that seems to be ground zero for Cape Town's massive flock of tourists. I remember questioning Terrence why he'd want to do his photoshoot somewhere so, erm, fake, but he was insistent. So I went along with it, trusting a local and trying to push aside my skepticism. On the day I remember waiting outside some shop and feeling my anxiety boil up — partly because I couldn't imagine how to shoot here without it looking like a high street catalogue shoot, and partly because Terrence was late and I could see the sun starting its descent into night.
When Terrence finally arrived I was quickly relieved to find that he didn't want to shoot at the V&A at all, but at the nearby Silo District. Much better as it turned out! I was also relieved that Terrence was super comfortable with the camera, so we were able to knock out our shots before sunset and still manage to get home for the indoor nude pics with some natural light left.
Back home, Terrence was also comfortable getting his kit off, even if he couldn't seem to stop laughing whenever he tried to be sexy! It worked on me though, so much so that I found myself rushing to get his clothes back on and leave before I got too hot under the collar. Terrence wouldn't quite let me alone though, coaxing me into giving him a ride to a pub in the city centre. On the way I remember asking him if I was to be dropping him at a gay bar. "No," he exasperated. "Unfortunately the gay scene here is very white and not at all welcoming for blacks or coloureds." It was another moment when I was faced with a South Africa that is at once an amazing space for queers across the continent but also one still facing problems with racism and with reconciling its past.
Terrence D was the 274th guy shot for Elska. A selection of images and the story he wrote for us are published in Elska 16 (Cape Town, South Africa).
